


Merry Mishaps

by JadenGrace1



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Boys Kissing, Cuddling & Snuggling, Declarations Of Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, Heith Secret Santa 2018, Kissing, M/M, Mistletoe, Rated T for language, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 09:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17322287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadenGrace1/pseuds/JadenGrace1
Summary: “Do you have anything with, um, red berries?”“Berries? What kind of berries?”“Uh…” Keith racks his brain for any other significant detail. “Red ones?”The salesman (salesperson? salesalien?) gives him a look. “We’ve got at least twenty-seven different types of flora based on that description, kid. You’re gonna have to be more specific than that.”Well. Keith isn't sure what to say. Green leaves with red berries is the extent of his knowledge on mistletoe. "Uh..." He fiddles with the loose cloth on his left elbow. "Whatever's on sale?"~Merry Mishaps: aka the one where Keith tries to find an alien version of mistletoe so he can kiss Hunk underneath it, but it ends up being a lot harder than he originally planned.Also, he is absolutely head over heels for the team's resident yellow paladin and has Lots of Feelings about it.





	Merry Mishaps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bimmykimmy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bimmykimmy/gifts).



> Happy belated Holidays!!!
> 
> This was written for @bimmykimmy over on tumblr/twitter for the Heith Secret Santa! Sorry for waiting until the literal last day of posting to get this up, but I hope you enjoy it!!
> 
> ~
> 
> Tons of thanks to the wonderful orphicwaltz who agreed to do a quick, last-minute beta and found some things I'd missed in the edit.

It’s their first Christmas in the castle, and Keith is… hesitant. Not because it’s Christmas and he doesn’t really know anything about it beyond the few tv movies he watched in some of the group homes. Well, that’s a part of it to be sure. But the main reason is that it’s his first Christmas with  _ Hunk _ . Sweet, beautiful Hunk who’s told him all about his family and the different holiday traditions they have. And about one tradition in particular that he’s looking forward to.

“Dude, I’m so excited for Castlemas,” Hunk mentions as he works on some engineering project Keith is “helping” him with. All he does is sit there and occasionally hand Hunk some tool he needs, but Keith likes it — likes seeing his boyfriend so focused and listening to him ramble excitedly about all his different passions.

“Castlemas?”

“Yeah, you know. Christmas in the castle. Castlemas.” 

“Oh. Yeah, it sounds fun.”

They continue chatting as Hunk works, and eventually, it’s time for them to get ready for their afternoon training session.

“You know...” Hunk drawls as he walks over to Keith, wiping his fingers with a spare rag. He tosses it on one of the worktables and comes to stand in front of Keith, hands reaching to gently hold the red paladin’s shoulders. “There’s one tradition that I was never able to do on Earth that I’ll finally get to do.”

That certainly piques Keith’s interest. “Really?” he asks, settling his own hands around Hunk’s wrists. “Which one?”

“Kiss my boyfriend under the mistletoe.”

Keith nearly passes out from how quickly all the blood in his body rushes to his face, sending Hunk into a fit of giggles as he peppers Keith’s face with kisses.

And this is why, a few days later, Keith finds himself standing in the middle of some kind of alien plant nursery, equal parts determined and helplessly awkward.

“Do you have anything with, um, red berries?”

“Berries? What kind of berries?”

“Uh…” Keith racks his brain for any other significant detail. “Red ones?”

The salesman (salesperson? salesalien?) gives him a look. “We’ve got at least twenty-seven different types of flora based on that description, kid. You’re gonna have to be more specific than that.”   
  
Well. Keith isn't sure what to say. Green leaves with red berries is the extent of his knowledge on mistletoe. "Uh..." He fiddles with the loose cloth on his left elbow. "Whatever's on sale?"   
  
The alien does what Keith feels like is this species’ equivalent of an eye-roll. "Okay, gimme a minute." Keith watches the short, octopus-like creature waddle out from behind their spot at the counter and head towards the back of the greenhouse. A few minutes later the alien returns, each one of four arms holding a different plant. The upper left arm is holding what almost looks like a bonsai tree, except it’s all green and its trunk has little red flowers sprouting out of it. Pretty cute, but not quite what he’s looking for.   
  
The lower left arm is holding a pot that looks to be filled with some kind of vine. And while it actually has berry-like objects on it, they appear to be... oozing. Which, no. Just no.   
  
In the alien's upper right arm is some kind of mushroom. Or at least, it’s shaped like one. The top looks more like the top of a broccoli stalk than anything else, with some of the little seed-things a bright red. It isn't the worst choice out of all of them, but as Keith's eyes move to the plant in the alien's lower right arm, he knows which one he'll be choosing.

He points a gloved finger to the light blue pot containing what looks almost  _ exactly _ like mistletoe from Earth. "That one." The leaves are square-ish, and the berries seem to be dimpled like golf balls, but it’s almost perfect. He pays the required amount of GAC and makes his way out of the greenhouse, through the marketplace, and back to the castle.

On his walk back, he makes sure to be on the lookout for Hunk, who’s walking around with Lance and Pidge and looking for things they can use as decorations for their celebration on the castle. As he peeks cautiously around a corner, he feels his nose start to run and sniffs quietly, unconsciously scratching at it when he feels a tingly itch. Seeing that the coast is clear, he sneaks his way back to the ramp and into the castle, wondering idly why his nose has suddenly decided to be affected by the dust of the open-air marketplace. That thought easily gets pushed to the side as he begins to sleuth around the castle, searching for the best place to hang the “mistletoe”.

 

* * *

 

  
"Hey, Lance. Have you seen Keith?"

The red paladin listens from where he’s hiding down the hall as Hunk enters the kitchen and starts talking to Lance. He’d enlisted the blue paladin to help him send Hunk in the right direction and to serve as a distraction in case Hunk finished his project early. The “mistletoe” hangs above him on the entrance to the rec room, carefully but still clumsily attached with the closest thing to scotch-tape he could find in the castle.

Furiously, he rubs at his itchy nose, annoyed at the inconvenience and the fact that the itchiness has increased tenfold since he left the marketplace. It makes no sense that the dust from the planet is affecting him this much, especially since he’s been inside for a while now. Plus, he never had a reaction like this the previous times they’ve visited.   
  
"Yeah, I think I saw him head that way towards the rec room," Lance says casually from the kitchen.   
  
"Okay, cool,” Hunk replies. “Thanks, Lance!"   
  
"No problem, buddy."

Keith gives his nose one last swipe and prays that he doesn't end up ruining this for Hunk by giving him a snotty kiss.   
  
The boy in question comes around the corner, smiling brightly when he sees Keith standing there, and the red paladin feels like his soul is being blinded by Hunk's radiance.   
  
"There you are, Keith! What are—" He cuts himself off as his eyes glance somewhere about three feet above Keith's head. Those beautiful brown eyes meet navy blue once again, and the softness in them melts Keith's heart like butter. "Is that...?"   
  
He reaches out to grab Hunk's hand and pull him closer. "I mean, it's not the real thing,” he explains, shoulders taking on an anxious hunch. "But it looks pretty close, right?"   
  
Hunk uses the hand not currently occupied to cup Keith's face. "It's perfect." The yellow paladin's brows furrow a bit as he looks at Keith and rubs his thumb gently across his boyfriend's cheek. "You okay? Your eyes look a little red."   
  
Keith gently leans into Hunk's hand and sniffles discreetly as he can. "Yeah? Probably just the dust from the marketplace." He looks up from beneath his lashes and smiles coyly. "So, are you gonna kiss me or what?"   
  
Hunk huffs a laugh and brings his other hand up to frame Keith's face. "Oh, definitely," he croons, leaning in for the kiss.   
  
It happens without warning.

One moment Keith is patiently waiting for Hunk's lips to meet his own, and the next he is sneezing, suddenly and with such force that he smacks his forehead into Hunk's chin.

They break apart with a yelp, and Keith reaches up to rub his now aching head. "Shit, Hunk, are you okay?"   
  
Wincing and rubbing his chin, he replies, "Yeah, I—" Before he can finish, however, Keith sneezes again.

And again. And again.

"I think I should be the one asking you that." Hunk comes forward and leads the red paladin into the rec room, sitting him down on one of the couches. Keith furiously rubs at his nose with the back of his sleeve and groans in frustration.   
  
"God, I'm so sorry," he says as Hunk squats down in front of him. "I don't know what's wrong with me."   
  
Hunk looks him over and hums contemplatively. "My guess is that you're having some kind of allergic reaction."   
  
Keith sniffs loudly and rubs his nose again. "Really? To what?"   
  
"Well," Hunk says, "is there something you've come into contact with recently that you haven't come into contact with before?"   
  
Keith’s eyes wander across the room as he thinks. He’d thought it was the dust from the planet, but like he'd realized before, he’d had no problems with it the other times they'd visited. And it had only gotten  _ worse _ since he'd entered the castle, not better. As his eyes continue to amble in thought, he catches sight of the "mistletoe" still hanging in the doorway.   
  
And then it clicks. "Aw, man."

Hunk follows Keith’s line of sight and squeezes his arm gently. “Yeah, that’ll do it. Now, come on,” he urges, helping Keith to his feet. “Let’s go see if Coran has any kind of space Benadryl.”

The red paladin begins to protest, “I’m sure I’ll be f—” and is quickly silenced by his own violent sneeze. Hunk raises a single sarcastic eyebrow.

“Ugh, fine.” Keith wipes his nose across his sleeve.

Hunk wrinkles his. “Maybe we’ll find you some space tissues first.”

“ _ Ugh _ .”

Less than a week later, Keith finds himself down in another crowded marketplace, searching for an alien plant vendor that may or not be here. At the entrance, he’d asked the alien standing there for directions, but they’d just made a series of complicated hand gestures using three of their arms and one of their eyestalks, leaving Keith both confused and slightly disturbed.

He’s been wandering for what feels like hours now, and he’s almost considering just finding a random stick and whatever passes for leaves here and just… gluing them? Do they even have glue on the castle?

His thoughts are interrupted by a flash of green that catches in the corner of his eye. Shuffling his way past aliens of various shapes and sizes, he makes his way to a small cloth-covered booth where he finds an assortment of different plants lined up in pots in the front as well as hanging from numerous baskets in the ceiling.

The one that had caught his eye hangs near the front right hand corner of the little shop. It’s a small beige bag holding a knot of dark green vines, and at the center of the knot sits a small red bud, similar to that of a rose.

He looks to the alien staffing the booth, tilting his head back (and  _ back _ ) as he tries to meet their gaze. So focused on the hanging plant, he hadn’t really noticed the sheer size of the alien  — a fuzzy behemoth that barely fit inside the structure, the dark orange tufts of… hair? Fur? On the top of their head grazing the drab cloth serving as a roof for the tent.   


“Uh.” Keith points to the plant he wants. “How much for that one?”

“30 GAC.”

The transaction is over almost instantaneously, and as soon as the plant is in his hands, he tucks it carefully into his cloak.  _ Can’t go worse than the first one, right, _ he thinks wryly to himself.

Wrong.

It does go worse. Much worse. The little red bud in the middle of the plant? As it turns out, the “bud” is actually a pod full of hallucinogenic spores. Keith finds out the hard way when the bud opens and sprays him with the spores as he’s trying to find a way to attach it to the doorway, and he ends up running around the castle for two hours, chasing imaginary butterflies and playing what he thinks is a very literal game of “the floor is lava”.

Eventually, the other paladins are able to quarantine him in the med bay, and Coran gives him an anti-toxin in the form of a tea that ends up knocking him out for about twelve hours straight.

Keith’s third attempt at finding mistletoe is… well. Let’s just say that giant sentient plants reminiscent of Earth’s venus flytraps are going to be featured in his nightmares for the foreseeable future.

 

* * *

It’s the day before they’re set to celebrate Castlemas, and Keith is at the end of his rope. Everything he’s tried to do to give Hunk his special mistletoe kiss has ended in  _ disaster, _ and he can’t help but feel like the universe is trying to tell him something. Probably something along the lines of him being the world’s worst boyfriend. Space’s worst boyfriend? Either way, he dramatically flops over on his bed with the conclusion that he is, in fact, the worst.

His pathetic moping is interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Keith?” Hunk’s muffled voice drifts through the solid metal and makes its way into his chest, settling next to his heart and loosening the tendrils of anxiety that had started to surround it. “You in there?”

He calls out the affirmative. “Yeah, you can come in.”

The door slides open with a soft  _ whoosh _ and Keith’s face moves without his consent, the corners of his mouth stretching into what he’s sure is an absolutely smitten smile. He’s amazed at how the simple presence of his boyfriend is enough to make him feel like he’s lighting up from the inside.

And then Hunk smiles back, big and bright and with the force of a thousand suns, and Keith thanks every god he can think of that he gets to be on the receiving end of such brilliance.

“Everything okay?” Hunk asks as he comes to sit on the bed, scooting himself back against the wall so Keith can snuggle up next to him. Which he does, feeling like his heart is weeping furious, happy tears because  _ What the hell? Did I do? To deserve this wonderful man??? _

The red paladin sighs contentedly as Hunk wraps an arm around him and tucks him in close. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just throwing myself a pity party.”

Hunk gives a soft squeeze. “Aw, what for?”

“I’m just… mad. At myself.” He shoves his face into Hunk’s shoulder to try and hide the shame he feels reddening his cheeks. A large, warm hand comes to cradle the back of his head, and Keith is amazed that he doesn’t spontaneously combust right then and there.

“Why?”

“Because,” he mumbles into Hunk’s shirt before turning his head so his boyfriend can actually hear him. “Because… you really wanted to do a mistletoe kiss, and every time I tried I just ended up fucking it up, and I feel bad because you’re amazing and deserve, like, everything — and the fact that I couldn’t even give you something as simple as  _ that _ makes me so scared that I won’t be able to give you  _ anything _ and—”

His accidental word vomit is cut off when Hunk suddenly smushes a pointer finger into his lips.

“Hey. You give me so much, okay?” Deep brown eyes pierce gently but firmly into his. “You give me so much support — you help me with my anxious thoughts, and you laugh at all my puns, and you listen to me rant about anything from parsecs to pastries, and you just… you give me little pieces of you, too.” Hunk’s hand moves from Keith's lips to gently tuck a long lock of black hair behind his ear. “And that’s really what I want. To get to have little pieces of you so you can have little pieces of me.”

Keith stares at Hunk for a beat — basks for an infinite moment in the love emanating like golden sunshine from the boy in front of him — before promptly shoving his face once again into his boyfriend’s shoulder to hide the tears he feels building up behind his eyelids.

“What the hell did I do to deserve you?” he croaks.

“I don’t know,” Hunk replies airily as he squeezes Keith again and rests his cheek on Keith’s head, “but I’m pretty sure I’m the lucky one, here.”

“ _ Oh my god, Hunk, are you _ actually  _ trying to kill me?” _

The yellow paladin’s laugh rumbles from his broad chest into Keith’s own, causing all the loose feelings rattling around to settle into warm serenity.

“Nah, just speaking the truth.” Hunk gives him one more warm squeeze before sitting up and continuing, “I do have one little surprise for you though.”

Keith sits up as well, turning to sit with his legs crossed as he faces his boyfriend and surreptitiously wiping his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yep!” he chirps. “Close your eyes.”

Keith squints suspiciously before he complies, and listens to the sound of velcro ripping apart and rustling cloth as Hunk moves, the bed dipping as Hunk shifts his weight around. There’s a barely audible  _ thunk _ that comes from somewhere above him and some more rustling as Hunk seems to settle in front of him.

“Okay.” Warm hands wrap around Keith’s, practically engulfing them. “Open your eyes.”

He does.

Hunk is on his knees in front of him, beautiful round face trying to hold back a smile. But that’s it, as far as Keith can tell, seeing nothing new and raising an eyebrow. Then he remembers the  _ thunk _ and glances at the roof of the bunk.

There, attached above them and perfectly between them, is a shining piece of metal crafted and painted to look like mistletoe.

Keith looks back to Hunk, eyes wide. “Is that?”

Hunk beams a satisfied grin, absolutely incandescent. “Yep.”

And between one breath and the next, Keith is lunging forward, cradling Hunk’s face between his hands and pouring every ounce of awe and gratitude and  _ love _ he possibly can into the kiss.

Hunk’s hands settle onto his sides, and he breaks the kiss just long enough to declare, “I love you,” before diving back in, reluctant to be apart for more than a second. But apparently saying it once wasn’t enough, affection bubbling up inside him like a baking soda volcano. So he compromises, peppering Hunk with kisses all over his face and sounding like a broken, lovesick record as he repeats over and over again between kisses, “ _ I love you. I love you. I love you.” _

And Hunk responds in kind, whenever he can. “ _ I love you, too, Keith. So much. I love you.” _

They end up being late to dinner, but neither of them mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Keith, staring up at the “mistletoe” as they cuddle on his bed: ...but why are the berries white? I thought they were red?
> 
> Hunk: Uh… that’s holly.
> 
> Keith: What?
> 
> Hunk: Yeah, holly has red berries and mistletoe has white. They get confused all the time though.
> 
> Keith: ….
> 
> Hunk: ….
> 
> Keith, shoving breadsticks into his fanny pack and running for the airlock: sORRY GOTTA GO FLING MYSELF INTO A BLACK HOLE
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Seriously, though, thank you guys so much for reading and please let me know what you think! I hope you guys have a wonderful 2019!!!


End file.
